Bonnier Duke Program Underway

Marjaana Toiminen during the Bonnier Duke Program

The Bonnier Duke Program, with 30 leading Bonnier managers participating from around the world, recently finished up the latest round in London. The international program is the biggest investment Bonnier has made in leadership on a top level ever. CEO Jonas Bonnier's message is clear: "No single task is more important than to make sure that we have the best possible people in key positions. We must retain talent by continuously providing them with inspiration, challenges and the possibility of a career within the Group."

Helping leaders face challenges as individuals and with the help of the network created by the program is the crux of the Bonnier Duke Program. The program is run by Bonnier Media University together with the renowned business education company, DukeCE, a part of Duke University. The Bonnier Duke Program is part of the Bonnier Key People Commitment, and is for specially chosen key leaders and management within Bonnier companies who report directly to the top management of the Bonnier Group. "We have everyone from editors-in-chief to marketing directors, leading publishers and TV news directors to CFOs," says Stefan Mehr, head of Bonnier Media University. "It's a really cool group."

When the DukeCE team planned the program, they found many paradoxes and pre-conceptions, says Mehr. This became the working material for the Bonnier Duke Program. "In a media world that is undergoing such powerful changes, it's important for us to question our assumptions in order to get new ideas," he says. "Our leaders and managers need to understand the conflicts these paradoxes create, not just to solve them but so they actually can be a source of energy."

Some 120 key people will be taking part in the Bonnier Duke Program in four groups over the next two years. The 60 who will participate this year have been identified, and the 30 who make up the first pilot group have already met for two four-day intensive sessions - in New York City and London. The program uses unorthodox teaching methods and the course leaders are on a world-class level, such as teacher and scholar Lynn Philips, formerly of Stanford Business School. CEO Jonas Bonnier as well took part, meeting with the group both in New York and London.

"The idea is brilliant, to make us think and work on the future of our business in an inventive and inspiring way. We all need to upgrade our strategic capacity, and the first part of the course provided several useful tools for that," says participant Marjaana Toiminen, CEO for Bonnier Publications Oy in Finland, publisher of Olivia, Divaani and Evita magazines, among others. "Also, even though it sounds like a cliché, to connect on a deeper level with colleagues in different business areas is so valuable. The experience of being part of a collective, a sort of a Bonnier universe, is extremely energizing."  

The next group of 30 - which includes top management of the Bonnier Group - will meet in September and November, and the two groups will meet together for a day in Stockholm in January 2012.

"As with everything we do at BMU, we want to entertain, educate and inspire," says Mehr.